L'hostaria/tamarac

DINING

February 20, 1998|M.L. WARREN FINE DINING

L'Hostaria is one of those restaurants that is more talked about than seen. This is the ultimate word-of-mouth restaurant, a place with admirers who are legion and fervent. For all the buzz, however, you won't find chef/owner Frank D'Aiuto hyping a new book on television, or peddling a line of signature sauces in all the trendy markets. He probably doesn't have time given the number of meals he turns out even on a slow night.

It's been this way for a long time, even in the early 1980s; before D'Aiuto and his family took over the restaurant, the place was packed, but all the plaques on the wall attesting to the restaurant's status as a five-diamond award winner are recent.

In Italy, an osteria is a convivial family restaurant without the formality of a ristorante. Tamarac's L'Hostaria is very much a family restaurant with family members not only in the kitchen but at the front of the house as well. The D'Aiutos' kids even bus tables on weekends, though the wait staff is composed entirely of seasoned veterans.

That's where the family restaurant idea starts to fall apart, for at L'Hostaria, ``family style'' seems to mean ``serve yourself'' part of the time. Bottles of water and wine are delivered and the first glass poured, but it's up to diners to pour their own from then on. The curmudgeonly servers are not so much rude as distant and frequently disdainful to non-regulars, though several waiters happily break into song at the slightest provocation: a birthday here, a fragrant plate of pasta there and out pours a melody.

It's a pity that harmony doesn't translate to the plates that are often bland and unexciting. The best appetizer is a quickly sauteed, al dente portobello mushroom with a slightly sweet sauce of wine, scallions and garlic ($8.95). A selection from an antipasto cart ($7.50) includes a good roasted eggplant, rather bland peppers without any roasted flavor and nicely marinated, tender squid rings. The baked clams with herbs ($7.50) are also fine. Other appetizers include run-of-the-mill offerings such as mozzarella with marinara ($6.50) and fried squid ($8.25).

Pasta is cooked al dente, but many of the flavors are tame. Linguine with clams and shrimp ($15.95) has lots of broth but very little flavor and both penne and linguine are available with a fresh but light marinara ($13.95). Capellini with fresh tomatoes and basil ($13.50) is a better bet.

A number of preparations are available with either chicken or veal. I tried the house favorite both ways and thought both veal L'Hostaria ($17.95) and chicken L'Hostaria ($14.95) were bland: a single, small artichoke heart cut in half and a few thinly sliced white mushrooms in a flavorless wine sauce did little to elevate the meat, though at least the chicken and veal were properly cooked.

There's a good deal more flavor in a dish like chicken scarpariello, that includes sausage, olives, pepperoncini and capers ($15.25) and regulars like the veal sorrentino ($19.50) in which scaloppine is layered with prosciutto and eggplant, but I thought much of the subtlety was lost under a blanket of mozzarella. Veal pizzaiola ($18.50), with mushrooms, peppers, onions and marinara, has plenty of flavor, though unfortunately little of the veal comes through.

Fish has a similar problem swimming between two poles: underflavored sauces or preparations that overpower its delicate taste. A version of the sautM-Xed portobello available as an appetizer is paired with snapper ($19.50) and salmon ($18.25). The new menu offers orange roughy marechiaro ($14.95) with clams and shrimp though when I ordered it, a waiter suggested it was even better with snapper ($19.95). The fish was perfectly cooked, but three small clams and one small shrimp hardly added a thing to the dish.

The popularity of L'Hostaria is undeniable, though the reasons for that popularity elude me. The restaurant has a decent atmosphere and an adequate wine list, but its sometimes surly service aside and average quality cooking places it alongside, not above, a dozen other restaurants recycling American takes on old family recipes.